gpg – GPG Problem in Using Pass Password Manager

gpgpassword-store

I would like to use the "pass" password manager. I don't seem to be able
to get pass to recognize my public key.

$ gpg2 --list-keys

/home/johndoe/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
-------------------------------

pub   rsa4096/3AD31D0B 2011-02-08 [SCE]
uid         [ unknown] Fedora-SPARC (15) <fedora@fedoraproject.org>
sub   elg4096/A9DAE699 2011-02-08 [E]

… lots of other keys like the one above and then …

pub   rsa2048/27FA9292 2016-03-31 [SC]
uid         [ultimate] John Doe <johndoe@gmail.com>
sub   rsa2048/7C8FD1D9 2016-03-31 [E]

$ pass git init 27FA9292
Reinitialized existing Git repository in /home/johndoe/.password-store/.git/

pass insert pubs/checkbook
Enter password for pubs/checkbook: 
Retype password for pubs/checkbook: 
gpg: captain Password Storage Key: skipped: No public key
gpg: [stdin]: encryption failed: No public key
fatal: pathspec '/home/johndoe/.password-store/pubs/checkbook.gpg' did not match any files

captain is the hostname. Why can pass not find my public key?

Thank you.

Best Answer

You can't compress the two commands into one. You need to first initialise the pass store with your key and then, separately, initialise the git repository. Because, as the manual states, pass git only takes git-command-args.

So, the correct approach requires two steps:

pass init YOUR_KEY
pass git init

Related Solutions

‘Pass’ password manager – does it require public key

The pass password manager requires a public key for encrypting its files (where the managed passwords are stored) - and it requires a private key to decrypt its files.

It isn't possible to configure pass to use gpg's 'pure' symmetric file encryption (cf. the -c or --symmetric GPG options).

This is due to the design of pass - using GPG's public key cryptography for file encryption/decryption allows for flexibility, e.g. for configuring multiple keys - say - such that a group of users has access to the managed passwords.

Also note that GPG uses a hybrid scheme when encrypting a file for one or many recipients (i.e. using one or many public keys): it randomly generates a session key for the symmetric encryption of the file and then just uses the public key/keys to encrypt the session key.

Pass and gpg: No public key

pass uses gnupg2, which does not share it's keyring with gnupg 1.x.

Import your keys again using gnupg2 instead of gnupg. If you already have your keys in gnupg on the target machine run:

$ gpg --export-secret-keys > keyfile
$ gpg2 --import keyfile

After importing, you may need to update the trust on your key. You should see a Secret key is available. message if the import was successful:

$ gpg2 --edit-key FA829B53
[...]
Secret key is available.

sec  rsa4096/FA829B53
     created: 2015-03-14  expires: 2017-03-13  usage: SC  
     trust: unknown      validity: ultimate
ssb  rsa4096/74270D4A
     created: 2015-03-14  expires: 2017-03-13  usage: E   
[ultimate] (1). Yury Shvedov (shved) <shved@lvk.cs.msu.su>

Now update the trust on your key:

gpg> trust
[...]
Your decision? 5
Do you really want to set this key to ultimate trust? (y/N) y
[...]
gpg> save

Best Answer

Related Solutions

‘Pass’ password manager – does it require public key

Pass and gpg: No public key

Related Question